I received the following from a fellow forum member who happens to be living in Germany after I posted the same story, elsewhere: http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=21469219 ORSN (European Open Root Server Network) http://www.orsn.net/ The Open Root Server Network (ORSN) is working on the task of guaranteeing the internet supply in form of an additional DNS server network with a legacy root zone for ISP networks in Europe. The network coordinated by the ICANN, consisting of 13 root servers distributed among almost the entire world, is as far as we are concerned a high-quality and sure solution. However, the locations of the separate Root server systems are (on the basis of the development history of the Internet) very dependent on the U.S.A. Thus, everybody living in Europe depends on the fact that the connections to the Root servers are available and reachable for the name resolution. The failure of one or more systems in the U.S.A already shows problems with the name resolution: DNS inquiries are substantially delayed and the still attainable Root servers have to process these inquiries as well. The operators (ISC) of f.root-servers.net describe on their web page the servers load with the following words: F answers more than 272 million DNS queries per day, making it one of the busiest DNS servers in the world. A complete blackout of this network is virtually impossible but completely different problems appear as well: for example in the case of political conflicts in the Near East or in Europe. The U.S.A (under the current or any future administration) are theoretically and practically able to control "our" access to contents of the Internet and are also able to limit them. A manipulation of the Root zone could cause that the whole name space .DE is not attainable any more for the remaining world - outside from Germany. We are convinced that such a power is not acceptable in any way even if there has not been such a case (at least not officially). This project does not represent an isolation from the "American" Internet, however, it is supposed to limit the influence and control of the U.S.A substantially. Further a weight distribution on the ORSN network would have positive effects (speed) for everyone in the Internet. Right now the ORSN root servers are attainable in the German Internet area and therefore localized closer to the common Internet user in Germany and Europe than a DNS inquiry to the U.S.A or Japan etc. http://european.de.orsn.net/about.php Network http://european.de.orsn.net/network.php Operators http://european.de.orsn.net/members.php ------ Frank ---------Deepak wrote: Is this operational or dross? Basically it sounds like the U.S. Gov't (NTIA)/U.S. Dept of Commerce will take back control of the root name servers from ICANN at some point. I suppose they might just contract operation of them to ICANN, but its unclear to me. I'm hesitant to post because if this were a huge deal I would have expected someone to beat me to the punch. But then again, its a holiday weekend in the U.S. Deepak Frank A. Coluccio DTI Consulting Inc. 212-587-8150 Office 347-526-6788 Mobile